Kaspersky Confirmed That They Had A Brief Possession Of NSA Classified Files

Kaspersky has shed some light about the reports that surfaced earlier this month about stolen NSA classified files. The reports claimed that Russian hackers had managed to access the NSA servers. Also, get away with classified information in 2015.

The stolen files were a detailed plan of how the United States protect their cyber networks from cyber criminals as well as how they breach those of other nations. The reports point that the classified data was discovered through a Kaspersky software. The user is an NSA contractor who had copied them on his home computer.

According to the Associated Press, Kaspersky has acknowledged that indeed they possessed some NSA classified information, though briefly.

Eugene Kaspersky, the company’s founder, said that analysts reported to him that the software had pulled some classified NSA information from a computer owned by an NSA contractor. According to Eugene, the company did what was necessary immediately. They deleted the files.

The question whether the files ended up on Kaspersky’s servers accidentally or in a purpose remains unanswered.

According to the security company, their team was already in pursuit of a group of hackers. The hackers go by the name of Equation Group. Also, the group was part of the NSA.

As the story goes, the National Security Agency contractor who exposed the information was running the security software after infecting his computer with a bootleg copy of Microsoft office. The Equation Group files on the machine triggered Kaspersky, which transferred the data to the security company headquarters immediately.

After the analysts noticed that they were NSA classified files, they informed Eugene, and they wiped the data immediately.

Desperate Move

Kaspersky released this information as a move towards transparency as they are facing trust challenges in the United States recently. Also, the security company suffered their first colossal blow when an online store, Best Buy removed Kaspersky from their shelves last month.

The U.S banned all its federal agencies from using Kaspersky. The FBI reportedly discouraged the private sector from using Kaspersky. The company has been under investigation by central government bodies lately. The Senate and House of Representatives are also on their neck.

In a move to revive some trust from the government and customers, the company announced that they’d establish three centres for transparency around the world. Hence, They would let a third party review their source codes.

According to a former NSA analyst and a cyber-security expert Jake Williams, deleting the files by Kaspersky analysts was a smart move, what doesn’t add up is why an NSA contractor would save classified data in a home computer that was already comprised.